#leo is tsukasa's mentor if that wasn't obvious

[odysseys-end]

Newbie

He could barely hold in his excitement. His senior may have to forgive his disrespectful behavior just once because this discovery is just simply phenomenal. Why, he's probably the only first-year with such forbidden knowledge! Forbidden but precious. If Tsukasa closed his eyes and tried really hard, he could just imagine Tori seething with envy right about now. He has to clasp his hands over his mouth, fearing that he may just say something to ruin this moment.

Never mind the fact that his senior looked only a second away from cursing out his entire bloodline. Judging by the way Sena Izumi's hand tightened on the book he held, he was trying. So maybe Tsukasa shouldn't tease him too much.

Sena Izumi, a former student of Primavera Institute of Magic. Expelled for practising the Dark Arts. Blacklisted by the Diviner of the Sanctuary. It's been years since his banishment from the kingdom, yet here he is, alive and irritable. The portraits of Izumi shown to them did not do any justice to his actual appearance. Yet another stigma that evil has to look ugly or plain. The youth before him is reminiscent of pure, untouched ice.

If Tsukasa were to have encountered his senior wandering the hallways of their school, he wouldn't have associated dark magic with him. Back on track, he came here to learn things from his senior. Magic that couldn't be taught in school, expressly forbidden but tempting all the same. His mentor probably wouldn't scold him, he might even say something along the lines of: magic is a medium to express one's soul and desires. easier to translate than the convoluted nonsense that is human speech!

His mentor would probably laugh like an incredibly annoying goblin.

"If you're just going to stand around like an idiot, just get out of my way instead of wasting my time." Sena Izumi growled. Right.

"Sena-senpai... eek! You don't have to look so scary!" Tsukasa protested when Izumi shot him a venomous glare. It made him want to recoil but if he backed down now, this chance would be gone forever. In record time, he immediately ducks down just as something made contact with the wall behind his head.

"You're resorting to throwing things now?! Are you not dignified, senpai?" exclaimed Tsukasa, aghast. Peeking cautiously at his senior, Tsukasa catches a glimpse of a smile on Izumi's mouth before it's gone. He's still standing there, not a hint of any movement except the book he held earlier is no longer in his hand.

"Look, I did not wake up this morning to get harassed by some rich and pampered neophyte. You're pretty daring to come in here, unaccompanied, Suou Tsukasa-kun." The air turned frigid. A few seconds had merely passed but Izumi had managed to turn this whole floor into a wintry domain. In the corner where he huddled, Tsukasa tried to summon a small ball of flame in his hands. Upon hearing his name, Tsukasa faltered, the feeble attempt at fire fizzled out.

Izumi stalked closer. Tendrils of ice seemed to spread out wherever he stepped. When he was finally in front of Tsukasa, he knelt down. with a small action, he managed to completely dispel whatever fear Tsukasa was beginning to harbor and also evicted him from his domain. Izumi flicked him.

"Go home, reckless brat."

The windows were still open in his dorm room, the curtains fluttering wildly- an after-effect from a teleportation spell. Tsukasa stared blankly at the cold, pale moon. He was sprawled on the floor, with a book in his hand. What just happened? How was he sent back here without alarming the defensive magic the school had around its perimeters? How is he not suffering from any repercussions from coming into contact with black magic when Izumi had approached him and even used glacial magic to touch him-

Oh.

Slowly, he sat up. The book he held was innocent, bound with a cranberry linen cover. The title was embossed in gold letters: Article of Faith, by Sena Izumi and... Tsukinaga Leo. Huh. Every copy of this book had been burned, the Elders claimed that it was teaching aspiring mages to reject the Sanctuary. Then this must be...

Tsukasa flipped through the pages, some sort of trepidation gripped his heart. Countless annotations made by flawless handwriting filled the paper. Most of it was directed at certain passages written by the co-author. I've got the last remaining copy, and it's Sena Izumi's.

"If he wanted to give this to me, he could've done so nicely." He pouted.